Deadly Still (2) Poem by Gert Strydom

(Written for Minette on 31 May 1990)

i
Too white and bleak was your face,
too lifeless you countenance,
your intense blue eyes closed
with no pulse beating in your heart.

They crossed your hands over your breast.
Your hands could not touch me anymore,
could hold no poetry book or rose
and far too silent and still you did rest.

ii
Forgive me that I did not know
how short our relationship would be,
that I did not do more
to show you how precious you are to me,

and my life without you
does stretch out further than a eternity,
that I do still live though days of sunshine,
do smell the rain and feel the wind,

where in darkness
you are unaware of all of these things.